Shipping a boat cross country?

You might want to look for boats in South Florida and have it shipped by water. South Florida to Victoria is a normal route that most of the yacht shippers do and you don't have to dismantle anything and reassemble. There can be a lot of labor involved in removing a bridge, crating it for shipping, re-assembling everything by someone else that didn't take it apart. I'm not even sure you could ship that boat across the country on land with it's beam.

Carver used to ship them from Wisconsin to both coasts all the time by two trailers. The main salon and Pilothouse were covered with a fitted plywood form and the bridge assembly goes on in “one shot”.

There are plenty for sale in California and you can hire a Captain for a water delivery.
I can’t imagine any upside to disassembling a used boat, transporting it cross country and reassembling it - too much opportunity for Murphy’s law.

The Carver 530 was a response to the successful Navigator 53/56 built by the Marshall family in California and both are popular in the PNW. In fact, Carver sent their designers to a dealer in Seattle and tape measured the Navigator in order to benchmark the design and create there “own”, as told to me by that very dealer.

One issue for the Voyager - the bridge helm is odd and affected by the large curved glass, many people have complained of the distorted view and even experienced sea sickness while underway - as told to me by the dealer’s service manager who commissioned many of them. I went onboard one and had to agree that the viewpoint is awkward and would take some getting used to at the very least.

The local Seattle boats will be set up for the PNW, usually with a much better heating system, The FL boats will have an emphasis on Air-conditioning and will need supplemental heat systems for your waters.

Shop all the sites. There is a great American Tug in Jax Fl with all the northern options, including extra heaters.
Gyro stabilizer, RO, and NO fly bridge.

Demo's and travlers from/designed for the colder climes are down here.

Worked on a local boat that still had a diesel heater for a few years.

Just had a friend ship a Silverton 46 to Southern CA from MD via two trucks. Flybridge had to come off. Total cost in excess of $70K. If his company had not paid for it, he would not have done it. You are much better off trying to find something on the West Coast.

Shipping it via freighter from South Florida to Ensenada,MX would have only been $40-45k without dismantling the boat for comparison.

As PacBlue is indicating, I cannot imagine that you cannot find a Carver 530 in OR or WA or BC. Tons sold in the Pacific NW back in the day. Taking apart a used boat, shipping it and putting it back together, and paying 10's of thousands, no thank you. Wait and find the Carver 530 near home.
Contact Brokerages, ask for the Carver expert, tell them what you want, there may be pocket listing out there too.

Better yet, find something better than a Carver!

The mid 2000s Searay 52 and 58's sedan bridges were both very good sea boats, better build quality, and also a hell of a lot faster than the Carvers. That would be my choice in that era and price range and should be some of those on the West Coast.

But they are not Pilothouse Boats. Speed in log strewn waters is a dicey proposition for most owner operators and the ability to operate in a controlled pilothouse environment is a must have for most of the PNW.

Would also look at Flemings, Offshore, etc. to match the boat to the weather needs in the PNW.

Okay, I’ll say it, look at Navigators.
There is a Carver Voyager but a 570 for sale in Portland.

I'm looking at a similar transaction for a 1992ish Viking 44' MY. I'm also in southern CA an find more possible boats on the east coast. So your comment about "shipping via ground" as opposed to "shipping via the water" is of definite interest to me.

For my clarification, the "$40-50K" was that for the water delivery?

Yes, that's what it should cost via water delivery. Confirm with yacht shipping companies.

When I was looking for a pilothouse, I found lots of them in the Southeast. I asked my broker about them, after all, the prices were right and the transport costs would have been made an offset. He came back and asked why I wanted a hurricane boat! O. I ended up getting a Navigator 5300 in Friday Harbor and took her home myself!

That would have been a nice ride from Friday Harbor!!!

Thanks for this info.

If you were satisfied with your broker, would you mind sharing that contact info - here or offline?